Process Safety and Environmental Protection, Vol.140, 299-313, 2020
A 2-D CFD model for the decompression of carbon dioxide pipelines using the Peng-Robinson and the Span-Wagner equation of state
Pressurized liquefied gases such as carbon dioxide are transported at a pressure above their saturation pressure. Therefore, if a pipeline transporting this substance ruptures, an abrupt expansion occurs, caus-ing the flashing of the fluid. Computational tools that predict how fast a depressurization develops, help to assess the consequences of potential pipeline rupture scenarios. This paper describes the develop-ment of a 2-D full-bore rupture decompression model to simulate the transient depressurization of a pipeline transporting pure liquefied CO2, using ANSYS Fluent as CFD software. The scope of work focuses on incorporating non-equilibrium phase transition, while addressing the calculation of properties for metastable liquid. Additionally, it includes the comparison of model predictions when implementing two thermodynamic approaches: the Peng-Robinson Equation of State (EoS), and correlations developed in this work based on the Span-Wagner EoS. It was found that the thermodynamic approach is deemed to have a predominant effect on the arrival time of the decompression wave front at different locations along the computational domain, while the mass transfer coefficient in the source terms (C) governs the phase transition and the pressure plateau representing this phenomenon. (C) 2020 Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.